BOSTON — Daniel Borer of Adams is accused of importing synthetic drugs from China through the U.S. Postal Service and using them to manufacture "massive wholesale quantities of smokeable synthetic cannabinoids" for sale throughout the United States.
Borer, 42, and his alleged accomplice, postal worker Josephine McLaughlin, 65, of Stoneham, were arrested Thursday by law enforcement officials and arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge David H. Hennessey in Boston. Their cases were transferred to U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald in the Southern District of New York.
U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman for the Southern District of New

ADAMS, Mass. — A fire at a home on Water Street early Wednesday afternoon severely damaged the 80-year-old structure leaving a family homeless.
Firefighters responded to 9 Water St. at about 12:30 p.m. and were able to quickly gain control over the blaze.
"The fire was coming out so we hit it from the outside and got it under control," Adams Fire Chief John Pansecchi said. "Then we sent guys in in crews. They went upstairs. There was no fire up there then we just started hitting all of the hot spots ... It went well."
Pansecchi said the homeowner was evaluated but there were no serious

ADAMS, Mass. — A Thursday morning accident sent one person to the hospital and caused a spill of hydraulic fluid at Specialty Minerals Inc.
The Adams Fire Department, Adams Ambulance, and Adams Police were detailed to Columbia Street at 6:38 a.m. Thursday for report of a vehicle versus crane accident with injuries.
According to the report by the Fire Department, a box truck had struck the crane at the entrance to Specialty Minerals Inc. The operator of the box truck was injured and still in the vehicle. The crane operator did appear to be injured.
The crane was hit near its hydraulic tank, causing a large spill.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — An Adams woman has been charged in the hit-and-run accident last month that resulted in the death 38-year-old Jerome "Jeremy" Berard.
Debra M. Milesi, 57, of Jordan St. was arraigned in Northern Berkshire District Court on Monday afternoon on single counts of leaving the scene of a personal injury accident resulting in death, of motor vehicle homicide while under the influence of alcohol and of negligent operation of a motor vehicle.
Berard, of North Adams, was found laying on the side of East Hoosac Street in Adams around 1:30 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 29. Berard had incurred severe injuries including broken limbs and

ADAMS, Mass. — An early morning fire at Ziemba's farm on Walling Road destroyed a hay-filled barn complex.
Firefighters from nearly a dozen fire departments spent hours containing the blaze and preventing it from spreading to adjacent buildings and the farmhouse at Broadlawn Farm.
"The back barn was fully involved when we got here and the owners were trying to get the cows out," said Fire Chief John Pansecchi during a pause around 5:30 a.m., nearly three hours after the fire was first reported. "By the time we got here [the barns] were gone."
Pansecchi believed all or most of the dairy cattle